Slav counting: history

The modern system of chronology dates back to just over two millennia after the birth of Jesus Christ and several hundred centuries before this event. However, before the advent of the Christian calendar, different peoples had their own ways of measuring time. Slavic tribes are not an exception. Long before the rise of Christianity they had their own calendar.

Origin of the word "calendar"

According to the official version, the term "calendar" came from Latin. In ancient Rome, debt interest paid in the early days of each month, and data on them recorded in a debt book called calendarium. Later, it was from the title of the book that the word "calendar", which came to the Slavs with Christianity, occurred.

Some scholars believe that the term was derived from the phrase "Kolyadin Dar" (a gift of Kolyada), which was called chronology. Slavic origin scholars consider it quite possible. Some of them are sure that the Romans borrowed the word "calendar" from the Slavs, and not vice versa. Judge for yourself: translation of the word calendarium, as well as an explanation of how it relates to debts and books - no. After all, in Latin, debt is debitum, and the book is libellus.

Chronology from the Nativity of Christ

To date, our era from the Nativity of Christ is more than 2,000 years. However, the tradition of counting the year is used for about a thousand years because even with the recognition of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, the year continued to be counted off from important worldly dates. For the Romans - it was the year of the founding of Rome, for the Jews - the year of the destruction of Jerusalem, for the Slavs - the year of the creation of the world in the Star Temple.

But one day the Roman monk Dionysius, making up the Easter tables, was entangled among the various systems of chronology. Then he came up with a universal system, the starting point of which will be the year of Christ's birth. Dionysius calculated the approximate date of this event and henceforth used the chronology, called "from the Nativity of Christ."

Distribution this system received in 200 years thanks to the monk Bede Venerable, who used it in his historical work on the Anglo-Saxon tribes. Thanks to this book, the British nobility gradually switched to the Christian calendar, and after it the Europeans did it too. But the church authorities took another 200 years to start using the Christian system of chronology.

The transition to the Christian chronology of the Slavs

In the Russian Empire, which at that time included many native Slavic lands of Belarus, Poland, Ukraine and other countries, the transition to the Christian calendar occurred on January 1, 1700 by decree of Peter I. Many believe that Tsar Peter hated And tried to eradicate everything Slavic, including the calendar, therefore introduced the Christian time reference system. However, it is most likely that the tsar simply tried to tidy up such an intricate chronology. Slavic rejection here, most likely, does not play a role.

The fact is that with the advent of Christianity to the Slavs, the priests actively tried to translate the Gentiles to the Roman calendar. The people resisted and secretly adhered to the old calendar. Therefore, in Russia there were actually 2 calendars: Roman and Slavic.

However, soon in the annals began confusion. After all, the Greek chroniclers used the Roman calendar, and the pupils of the monasteries of Kievan Rus - the Slavonic calendar. At the same time, both calendars differed from that adopted in Europe by Dionysius. To solve this problem, Peter I ordered the compulsory transfer of all the empire under his control to the system of chronology dating from the Nativity of Christ. As practice showed, it was also imperfect and in 1918 the country was translated into a modern Gregorian calendar that takes leap years into account .

Sources of information about the ancient Slavic calendar

Today there is no reliable data on how the ancient Slavic calendar looked like. Popular now "Circumnus of the Numbog" was reconstructed on the basis of information from different historical sources of later periods. During the reconstruction of the ancient Slavonic calendar, the following sources were used:

• East Slavonic folk ritual calendar. Written evidence of it dates from the XVII-XVIII centuries. Despite this "young" age, this calendar has preserved a lot of information about the life of the Slavs in the time of pagan Russia.
• The church calendar of the "Months". In the process of Christianization of Rus, the church authorities often celebrated Christian holidays on important pagan holidays. Comparing the dates of the holidays from the "Mesyatseslov" with dates from other calendars, as well as from folklore sources, you can calculate the time of important ancient Slavic holidays.
• In the XIX century, on the site of the Vedic temple in Romania, about 400 gold plates with inscriptions were found, later named "Santia Dakov". Some of them are over 2000 years old. This find not only indicates the existence of written language among the ancient Slavs, but also provides a source of information about the epochs of ancient Slavic history.
• Annals.
• Archaeological finds. Most often these are ritual earthen vessels with a picture of calendar symbols. The most informative are the clay vases of Chernyakhovskaya Slavic culture (III-IV centuries AD).

Epochs of the ancient Slavs

According to the information contained in Santiyah Dakov, the history of the ancient Slavs has 14 epochs. The most important event, which served as the starting point for the calendar, was the convergence of the Solar and two other planetary systems, as a result of which the earthmen observed three suns in the sky at once. This epoch was called "Time of Three Suns" and dated 604 387th year (in relation to 2016).

• In 460 531-m on Earth arrived aliens from the constellation of the Little Bear. They were called Da'Ariyans, and this era was called the "Time of Gifts".
• In 273 910-m on the Earth again arrived aliens, but this time from the constellation Orion. They were called the "Aryans," and in honor of them the era is called "The Time of H'Arr."
• In 211 699, the next visit of extraterrestrial beings took place, marking the beginning of "The Time of Swag".
• In 185 779, the rise of one of the four most important cities of the continent of Daariya-Thule began. This city was famous for its skilled craftsmen and flourished for almost 20,000 years. This period of time was called "Time of Tula".
• In 165 043 the daughter of Perun - the goddess Tara brought to the Slavs a lot of seeds, from which subsequently grew numerous forests - so began the "Time of Tara".
• In 153 349-m there was a grand war of Light with Darkness. As a result, one of the satellites of the planet Phaeton Lutizia was destroyed, and its fragments became a ring of asteroids - this is the era of Assa Dei.
• In 143 003 the earthmen with the help of scientific achievements were able to drag a satellite from another planet, and the Earth, which already had two satellites at that time, became their three. In honor of this significant event, a new era is called the "Three Moon Period".
• In 111 819, one of the three moons was destroyed and its fragments fell to Earth, having siped the ancient continent of Da'ari. However, its inhabitants escape - the era of the "Great Resettlement from Da'ari" began.
• In 106 791-m on the Irtysh River was founded the city of Gods Asgard of Irian, and the new system of chronology was conducted from the year of its foundation.
• In 44 560-m all the Slavic-Aryan clans united to live together in the same territory. From this moment the epoch of "Creation of the Great Kolo Rassenie" began.
• In 40,017th Perun arrived on Earth and shared with the priests knowledge, because of what a huge leap took place in the development of people's technologies. Thus began the era of the "Third Arrival of Vaitmana Perun".
• At 13 021-m, another satellite of the Earth was destroyed and its fragments, having fallen to the planet, affected the inclination of the axis. As a result, the continents split and the icing, called the Great Cold Period (the Chilli), began. By the way, according to the time frame, this period coincides with the last glacial epoch of the Cenozoic era.

Modern humanity lives in an age that began the countdown from the creation of the world in the Star Temple. The age of this era today is more than 7.5 thousand years.

George the Victorious and the era of the creation of the world in the Star Temple

As you know, the word "world" has several meanings. Thus, the name of the modern era is often interpreted as the time of the creation of the universe. However, "peace" also means reconciliation between the warring parties. In this regard, the name "Creation of the World in the Star Temple" is a completely different interpretation.

Shortly before the first year was marked "from the Creation of the World in the Star Temple," a war broke out between the Slavic tribes and the Chinese. With great losses, the Slavs managed to win, and peace was concluded on the day of the autumn equinox between the two peoples. To mark this important event, it was made the starting point of a new era. Subsequently, in many works of art this victory was allegorically portrayed as a knight (Slavs) and a fighting dragon (the Chinese).

This symbol was so popular that with the advent of Christianity it could not be eradicated. Since the days of the Kiev Prince Yaroslav the Wise, the knight, who defeated the dragon, was officially named Georgii (Yury) the Victorious. Its significance for the Slavs is also evidenced by the fact that the cult of St. George was very widespread among all Slavic tribes. In addition, at different times and Kiev, and Moscow, and many other ancient Slavic cities depicted on the arms of this saint. It is interesting that the history of St. George is popular not only among Orthodox and Catholics, but also among Muslims.

Structure of the Old Slavic calendar

Ancient Slavic calendar one full revolution of the Earth around the Sun does not call the year, but in the summer. It consists of three seasons: autumn (autumn), winter and spring. Each season included 3 months for 40-41 days in each. The week in those days consisted of 9 days, and the day - from 16 hours. Minutes and seconds of the Slavs were not, but there were parts, stakes, moments, moments, sigas and santigi. It is difficult to imagine what level the technology should have been if the names existed for such short time intervals.

Years in this system were measured not by decades and centuries, as today, but by 144-year cycles: 16 years for each of the 9 constellations of the Swarovski Circle.

Every ordinary year from the creation of the world in the Star Temple consisted of 365 days. And here the leap year 16 was 369 days (every month it consisted of 41 days).

New Year in the ancient Slavs

Unlike the modern calendar, in which the New Year comes in the middle of winter, the Slavic calendar considered the beginning of the year autumn. Although in this issue the opinions of historians diverge. Most scientists believe that the original New Year was on the day of the autumnal equinox, which helped to fine-tune the calendar of the Slavs from the creation of the world in the Star Temple. However, with the adoption of Christianity according to the Byzantine tradition, the beginning of the new year was attempted to be postponed for the first month of spring. As a result, in parallel there were not only two calendars, but two traditions to celebrate the New Year: in March (as in the Romans) and in September (both in Byzantium and the Slavs).

Months of the ancient Slavs

The first month of the Old Slavic nine-month calendar was Ramkhat (beginning September 20-23), followed by the winter months Islet (October 31-November 3), Baylet (December 10-13) and Gaylet (January 20-23).

The spring months were called Daylet (1-4 March), Eilet (11-14 April) and Weillet (21-24 May). After it began, Ousen consisted of the months of Haylet (July 1-4) and Taylet (August 10-13). And the next, autumn month Ramhath was the beginning of the New Year.

With the adoption of Christianity in place of the Roman, gave the Slavic names to the months. With the establishment of a new calendar by Peter I, the Latin names were returned to the months. They remained in the modern Russian language, while the fraternal peoples preserved or restored the usual Slavic names for the months.

It is certainly not known how they were called with the advent of Christianity before the reform of Peter I, however, there are several variants reconstructed thanks to the folklore of various Slavic peoples.

Week of the Slavs

The question of the number of days in the week before the reform of Peter I remains controversial to this day. Many argue that there were 7 of them - hence the surviving names in all the Slavic languages.

However, if you think about the words from the "Humpbacked Horse", it becomes amazing how the text of 1834 mentions such a day of the week as the "octopus", which precedes the other day-the "week".

It turns out that the memories of the nine-day week remained in the memory of the Slavs, and therefore initially there were only 9 days.

How to calculate the year in the Old Slavonic calendar?

Today, many Slavs are trying to return to the traditions of their ancestors, including their calendar.

But the modern world, living according to the Christian calendar, requires a person to be able to navigate in this frame of reference of years. Therefore, everyone who uses the Slavic chronology (from the creation of the world), how to translate the years from it into a Christian system, should know. Despite the obvious differences between the two chronological systems, it's easy to do. You need to add to any date of the Christian calendar the figure 5508 (the difference in years between systems) and you can translate the date into the Slavic calendar. What is the current year for this system, you can determine by the following formula: 2016 + 5508 = 7525. However, it should be taken into account that the modern year starts from January, and the Slavs - from September, so you can use the online calculator for more accurate calculations.

More than three hundred years have passed since the inhabitants of the Russian Empire stopped using the Slavic calendar. Despite its accuracy, today it is only history, but it should be remembered because it not only included the wisdom of its ancestors, but was also part of the Slavic culture, which, in spite of Peter I, was not only inferior to the European, but also in Some things surpassed her.